Abu Dhabi targets regional filmmakers

Abu Dhabi Film Festival exec director Peter Scarlet has been shaking up the event in its soph sesh. The first thing that changed was the name, from the Middle East Intl. Film Festival.
"It was a no-brainer," Scarlet says. "Our focus was and is on work from this region, and we aim to have half the films in our various competitions reflect that. But the customary fashion of naming a film festival is almost universally to name it after the town it's held in. And when one is based in as special a town as Abu Dhabi, it seemed silly not to say so."

The festival will be judged on its fare, whatever the name. So Scarlet has expanded the program and the competitions, screening 70 films from 28 countries, including a decent selection of Arab films and 12 world premieres, all vying for a total of $1 million in prizes.
Randall Wallace's "Secretariat" opens the fest Oct. 14, and Tsui Hark's "Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame" closes it Oct. 23. There are six competitions -- narrative feature, documentaries, shorts, the Emirates section for local filmmakers, Showcase for recent international pics and Scarlet's new New Horizon competish for works from first- and second-time directors.